Florida Teens, Shushanites and Two-Way Wordlessness:
Two Mini Blogs for Purim
First Blog: Florida Teens and Shushanites: The Power of the Moment is Sometimes Felt by the Most Unlikely
While we were cooking for Shabbat last week, my wife said, “Maybe Emma Gonzalez is the next Rosa Parks.” And while I sort of laughed that off, maybe I shouldn’t have.
In a world where fighting and bickering among politicians has led to an increasingly frustrating lack of progress, Emma Gonzalez, the survivor of the tragic shooting in Florida, has stood up and said “enough.” Calling out adults and telling them that they are behaving “like children,” this teenager has been the one that has moved people from both sides of the aisle to realize that we have to make change. She has become representative of the movers of this moment, the youth that has to identified this moment and seized it.
Something similar happened in Shushan. In his thoughts about Purim, R. Zevin quotes Tehilim 98:3 which states, ,רָאוּ כָל-אַפְסֵי-אָרֶץ-- אֵת, יְשׁוּעַת אֱלֹהֵינוּ, The ends of the earth will recognize the salvation of God. He interprets the word אַפְסֵי as related to the word, אַפְסֵ and says that the society of Shushan was really characterized as good-for-nothing. These people, often characterized by our tradition as idolatrous and assimilated, were the ones that got to see the glory of the moment of salvation.
This is a lesson for us all. These efes people, Jews of Shushan, seen as zeroes--self centered social climbers, recognized the holiness of the moment and wrote down the important turning of the tables that taught us all the important lessons of Purim.
So too, today. Maybe it is the teens and the children, often marginalized as narcissistic and lazy, that will teach all of us. Maybe it is the Emma Gonzalezes who help bring a salvation, that will help us learn to work together and achieve solutions that will lead us into a new chapter to make our country stronger and prouder.
Let’s hope.
Second Blog: God Wasn’t the Only One Who Didn’t Share Words, Neither Did We
It is well known that the name of God is not found in the Megillah. And while there is no mention of God or words from the Divine, one has to look between the lines to see the holy presence in the story.
It is not as well documented, but maybe God can’t be blamed. You see, the people of the Purim story work in this world of the here and now, never really focussing on God to give them a helping hand.
The great heroine, Esther, often seen as a religious role model does not ever beseech God in the Purim story. She asks the people to fast and she fasts too. And while fasting was an act that often is used to open God’s mercy, she never mentions God. She rather says, “fast for me” (4:16)
Mordechai, the great hero perhaps comes the closest to a religious moment, but still does not seek God directly. We are told that he “cried a loud and bitter cry” (4:2) Yes it’s true that chazal tell us that his cry was meant to reach the Heavens and R. Pincus teaches that זְעָקָה is a prayer beyond words, but the Megillah never tells us that Mordechai focussed toward God. And, in contrast to other times, the Megillah and never shares with us that God listened.*
On the one hand, this is a comforting dynamic. Even when it’s hard to see, there is a bond between God and us that is behind everything. Mordechai and Esther connected and God listened. It is for us to continue to see the Divine despite the fact that it sometimes is so hard to see.
And for some, the absence of the exchange of words between God and the Jews, is scary.
And for others, the absence of God could be scary. Often when God seems hidden, the Divine is simply waiting, waiting to be sought and waiting to be found.
__________________
*-in contrast to another crying that reached God in Egypt Exodus 2:23
כג וַיְהִי בַיָּמִים הָרַבִּים הָהֵם, וַיָּמָת מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, וַיֵּאָנְחוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן-הָעֲבֹדָה, וַיִּזְעָקוּ; וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים, מִן-הָעֲבֹדָה.
23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Two Mini Blogs for Purim
First Blog: Florida Teens and Shushanites: The Power of the Moment is Sometimes Felt by the Most Unlikely
While we were cooking for Shabbat last week, my wife said, “Maybe Emma Gonzalez is the next Rosa Parks.” And while I sort of laughed that off, maybe I shouldn’t have.
In a world where fighting and bickering among politicians has led to an increasingly frustrating lack of progress, Emma Gonzalez, the survivor of the tragic shooting in Florida, has stood up and said “enough.” Calling out adults and telling them that they are behaving “like children,” this teenager has been the one that has moved people from both sides of the aisle to realize that we have to make change. She has become representative of the movers of this moment, the youth that has to identified this moment and seized it.
Something similar happened in Shushan. In his thoughts about Purim, R. Zevin quotes Tehilim 98:3 which states, ,רָאוּ כָל-אַפְסֵי-אָרֶץ-- אֵת, יְשׁוּעַת אֱלֹהֵינוּ, The ends of the earth will recognize the salvation of God. He interprets the word אַפְסֵי as related to the word, אַפְסֵ and says that the society of Shushan was really characterized as good-for-nothing. These people, often characterized by our tradition as idolatrous and assimilated, were the ones that got to see the glory of the moment of salvation.
This is a lesson for us all. These efes people, Jews of Shushan, seen as zeroes--self centered social climbers, recognized the holiness of the moment and wrote down the important turning of the tables that taught us all the important lessons of Purim.
So too, today. Maybe it is the teens and the children, often marginalized as narcissistic and lazy, that will teach all of us. Maybe it is the Emma Gonzalezes who help bring a salvation, that will help us learn to work together and achieve solutions that will lead us into a new chapter to make our country stronger and prouder.
Let’s hope.
Second Blog: God Wasn’t the Only One Who Didn’t Share Words, Neither Did We
It is well known that the name of God is not found in the Megillah. And while there is no mention of God or words from the Divine, one has to look between the lines to see the holy presence in the story.
It is not as well documented, but maybe God can’t be blamed. You see, the people of the Purim story work in this world of the here and now, never really focussing on God to give them a helping hand.
The great heroine, Esther, often seen as a religious role model does not ever beseech God in the Purim story. She asks the people to fast and she fasts too. And while fasting was an act that often is used to open God’s mercy, she never mentions God. She rather says, “fast for me” (4:16)
Mordechai, the great hero perhaps comes the closest to a religious moment, but still does not seek God directly. We are told that he “cried a loud and bitter cry” (4:2) Yes it’s true that chazal tell us that his cry was meant to reach the Heavens and R. Pincus teaches that זְעָקָה is a prayer beyond words, but the Megillah never tells us that Mordechai focussed toward God. And, in contrast to other times, the Megillah and never shares with us that God listened.*
On the one hand, this is a comforting dynamic. Even when it’s hard to see, there is a bond between God and us that is behind everything. Mordechai and Esther connected and God listened. It is for us to continue to see the Divine despite the fact that it sometimes is so hard to see.
And for some, the absence of the exchange of words between God and the Jews, is scary.
And for others, the absence of God could be scary. Often when God seems hidden, the Divine is simply waiting, waiting to be sought and waiting to be found.
__________________
*-in contrast to another crying that reached God in Egypt Exodus 2:23
כג וַיְהִי בַיָּמִים הָרַבִּים הָהֵם, וַיָּמָת מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם, וַיֵּאָנְחוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן-הָעֲבֹדָה, וַיִּזְעָקוּ; וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים, מִן-הָעֲבֹדָה.
23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
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